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At the Bhutan Network for Empowering Women (BNEW) Annual General Meeting in Thimphu, Bhutan, 183 women gathered to share their experiences of being women in politics.

When Dendup Dema contested for Shongphu gewog’s mangmi position in Trashigang in 2011, she lost to her opponent by a single vote. In the 2016 local government elections, she re-contested and won. She had two male opponents then. She said that people in her community supported her during the last election and there is no gender bias. “My husband encouraged me to participate, saying we would share the household work.”

Dendup’s story is, however, one of the few success stories shared of 183 women who had gathered at the three-day meeting. Many shared stories of discrimination, lack of family support, gender inequality and lack of trust for female candidates.

A former tshogpa from Paro, Sangay Lham, who contested for a gup’s position in the 2016 election, said people are reluctant to vote for women. “People in my village encouraged me to contest for the gup’s post but people from other villagers did not vote for me.”

The participants stated that to pave the way forward, elected women should be counselled to be role models in the society, which would encourage people to vote for women. They suggested BNEW to continue its advocacy programmes in rural areas.

BNEW’s executive director, Phuntshok Chhoden, said BNEW has focused on building the capacity of women in local government and on keeping potential candidates prepared to participate in the third local government elections. “We need to work on the third parliamentary elections,” she said. “A competition was also held to develop advocacy materials to raise awareness in the third parliamentary elections to promote women in leadership.”

BNEW is a network for current and aspiring women in politics at both national and local level in Bhutan. The network was established with the support of DIPD following the first ever national meeting of women elected at local and national level in Paro in March 2012 in collaboration with the National Commission of Women and Children (NCWC), the Department of Local Governance (DLG) and UN Women.

12 delegates from DIPD partners in Myanmar, Tanzania, Kenya, Swaziland and Kenya are in Denmark to share experiences and learn more about dialogue and conflict transformation. During their visit, the delegates visited the Mayor of Roskilde, Joy Mogensen.

Joy Mogensen spoke about the very new situation that has arisen in that the Social Democratic party have an absolute majority in the new city council in Roskilde. This is a very rare situation in local and national politics – mainly due to the proportional representation system. However, the popularity of the Mayor and the Social Democractic party in Roskilde resulted in a great increase of votes and thus seats in the city council. The Mayor stressed the importance of seeking broad consensus even with an absolute majority and the importance of allocating the committee chairs to other parties as well.

The course participants asked many questions regarding the involvement of civil society in municipal planning, about party politics, negotiations and about the accountability and oversight functions. They also invited the Mayor to speak about conflict mediation and the Mayor shared that in Danish politics it is okay to disagree – that in itself takes many steps down the conflict ladder. Joy Mogensen also pointed out that “it is important to enter in and out of a conflict with an open mind”. The one party that you disagree with on social issues may be the party that you can establish a coalition with on environmental protection. Finally, she stressed that “making a compromise is not a defeat – it can rather be seen as a win-win situation”.

Hanne Lund Madsen, Head of global programmes, DIPD, explains that the dialogue and conflict course is an important input into the multiparty dialogue processes that DIPD facilitates in several countries in Africa and Asia where parties get an opportunity to discuss issues of common concern and possibly agree on joint reform initiatives.

From November 27 to December 8, 12 representatives from DIPD partners in Myanmar, Kenya, Swaziland and Tanzania participate in the Danida Fellowship Centre course in Dialogue and Conflict Transformation in Copenhagen.

The goal of the course is to strengthen the capacity of participants in resolving or transforming the conflicts, they face in order to contribute most effectively to development, good governance and peacebuilding in the context in which they work.

Already after the first day of training Mr. M. Shabangu from the Swaziland Democratic Party said: “I wish we in the democratic movement had had this training before we engaged in the Commonwealth initiated efforts to dialogue with the King of Swaziland. As you know these efforts did not succeed.”

The training is also needed in Tanzania. “Now during the by-elections in Tanzania there has been so much conflict and violence, which shows the need for dialogue and conflict prevention.” Ms.Doris Cornel Gillius, Chadema.

The essence of DIPD’s work revolves around strengthening political dialogue abroad and therefore we are very pleased, that our partners can participate in this course.

The course participants from DIPD’s partners meet with Hanne Lund Madsen, Head of Global Programmes, DIPD

The process of making the National Youth Policy in Myanmar was initiated during the previous government. After the National League for Democracy (NLD) won the landslide in 2015 and formed their Government, the process of its development accelerated, as it was included in the so called “100-day action plan” presented by the new government.

The drafting process was initially initiated through a joint effort between youth representatives from across the country, the UN Joint team, government ministries and national consultants, where it was widely debated by a range of youth networks. To enhance the input of political party youth representatives into the draft of the National Youth Policy, DIPD conducted workshops among the political party and CSO youth, which resulted in a policy memo recommendations and policy suggestions. This policy memo, which was presented to the drafting committee, proved very valuable. Many of its proposals are now included in the National Youth Policy Draft, published by the Central National Youth Policy Drafting Committee.

From this first publication of the draft, it will be two months before the policy will be presented in the National Parliament. To provide forums for consultation and dialogue on the draft policy, DIPD cooperated with the drafting committee and the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) to conduct workshops on the National Youth Policy in Mandalay Region and in Shan and Kachin States between the 15th and 22nd October.

“Now that DIPD is supporting consultation on the policy, we are engaged in getting the suggestions and feedbacks from the local people. We really appreciated the efforts of DIPD” SuSal Shinthat said. Susal is a LGBTI Representative and Youth Policy Drafting Committee member from the Mandalay Region.

During the workshops the participants presented a lot of ideas and policy suggestions and their will to be engaged in the implementation process was very high. “After I learned about the National Youth Policy, I understand the political role of youth better, and I have learned how a policy like this can help in enhancing the opportunities for a greater capacity and development of the youth” Eit Shan Paung from Wa Liberal Democratic Party said after the workshop in Shan state.

One of the biggest challenges to the draft policy paper was that it did not mention much about the participating role of political party youth. The participants argued that they wished that the policy would define more clearly how political party youth can be more actively engaged in the implementation process of the policy in the future.

Some tangible suggestions to emerge from the dialogues included creating a Ministry for Youth Affairs that can be combined with the Ministry of Sports and Health; or giving the youth a chance to elect an official Youth “Diplomat” that can speak with the voice of the youth upon international affairs.

“When we are looking more detailed in to the National Youth Policy, we are satisfied overall, but some policy points still need some improvement. This became clear as we were discussing the policy matters more in detail, so the outcome of our discussions were really great and fruitful”, Mu Caroline from Kayan National Party said after the workshop conducted in Shan state.

The comments, suggestion and ideas from the participants will be assembled in a new report that will be handed to the central drafting committee, the UN joint team and the Department of Social Welfare. Furthermore, all our collected suggestions and comments from the participants will be presented at the Strategic Planning meeting of the implementation process of the final National Youth Policy.

For more information about DIPD’s work in Myanmar, please visit our Myanmar page.

Why are the Danish ballot boxes not transparent? Why do the losing parties party? And can Denmark learn from Nepal when it comes to including more women in local politics?

During the Danish Municipal Elections, Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD) sends 75 young, local politicians from as diverse countries as Bhutan, Colombia, Egypt, Palestine, Tanzania and Myanmar to a number of Danish municipalities as ‘election observers’. They will follow the final election campaign, the election itself and the subsequent negotiations on mayor and committee posts.

DIPD and the Danish parliamentary parties invites you for an open event at Johan Borups Højskole, Frederiksholms Kanal 24Thursday November 23, from 6-9PM

We will focus on Danish local democracy in a global perspective as well as local politics in the world, when the youth politicians reflect on local democracy in Denmark and in their home countries.

The event is free of charge, to register please send an e-mail to tilmelding@dipd.dk
To view the program click here

Written by Jens Georg Bagge, National Executive Member and Member of the Advisory Board, Danish Social Democratic Party.

As part of the Social Democratic Party’s partnership with the regional network SocDem Asia, I attended a regional conference ultimo September in Yangon, Myanmar, on inclusive policy formulation, togeter with the SDP International Consultant, Iben Merrild, and the SDP International Secretary, Simon Redder Thomsen. My task was to share experiences of how we in the Social Democratic Party in Denmark develop inclusive policy and navigate obstacles when it comes to implementation.

The importance of coming together

The conference provided an opportunity for our partners and sister parties, the Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS) and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), Myanmar, Nepali Congress (NC), Nepal, and Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party, Philippines, to showcase the policy papers they have been developing over the last year and to share these experiences with the other South and South East Asian member parties in the network. In short, the two parties (DPNS and SNLD) in Myanmar have been working to create a political platform for a peace process in Myanmar, advocating for changes to the constitution. Akbayan in the Philippines has been working on a policy to ensure access to free medicine for the local population, and Nepali Congress in Nepal has worked on social inclusion in the constitution.

But more than that the conference was a milestone for the Burmese parties. Particularly for DPNS, which has spent many years in exile, hosting their first international gathering on Burmese soil – counting representatives from social democratic parties and formations in Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, India, Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Denmark – was an occasion to celebrate. However, this was dampened by the harsh reality of the situation facing the persecuted muslim minority in the country, the Rohingyas. An unacceptable situation, which was heavily criticised by the SDP International Secretary, Simon Redder Thomsen, but a situation which local parties regrettably find it difficult to speak out on due to threats of regime clamp downs by a military that operates outside civilian control.

Exchanging local experiences

As the headline suggests, the focus was on how policy can be formulated, democratically and inclusive. In this context it was my task to give a concrete practical example of how we in Denmark think inclusion when we, as a political party, develop and formulate policy in the various welfare areas in Denmark. I had chosen to share an example based on the hospital plan for the Region of Zealand which was formulated in 2010, and has since been implemented regularly despite shifting political majorities and regional presidents.

The example was chosen because the process involved many different stakeholders, such as various health professionals, including many different municipal and professional health care organizations. In addition, it highlighted the need for politicians to work closely with local party political interests. Secondly, health is a basic welfare issue that is always of interest – not least for Akbayan in the Philippines, focusing on the campaign for free medicine. Our focus was first of all to exemplify inclusion in the democratic and political decision making processes, where networking is an important focus point for achieving goals.

This along with the experiences and challenges shared by the other parties allowed for fruitful discussions. Not least, the prerequisites for the Danish health service raised great interest. While the different parties still face obstacles to varying degrees, the conference also showed that besides the policy paper themselves progress has been made and future opportunities exist. Nepali Congress has pushed for greater representation and inclusion of women in the municipal election, with the need to push further still in the area of social inclusion in the constitution. In Myanmar the inclusive process of policy formulation has been beneficial to the DPNS building a closer link and understanding with the rural population and workers in cities, focusing on a basis for further democratisation in Myanmar. Similarly, Akbayan, has identified areas that ensure the financial resources to implement the policy developed, however this will require both internal and external campaigns in the future.

The two political active women Mbirih Mulamba and Grace Banda belongs to the group of 18-35-year old’s, that comprises more than 65 % of the total population of Malawi. But even though the group is a majority, youth has a very little say in political matters. The young party members are trying to get rid of an image of being aggressive troublemakers; an image that belongs to the past. Today, the youth want to be taken seriously within their parties in order to shape party politics and create change and development in Malawi. The youth are doing what they can to prove themselves as capable in politics, but a big challenge for them comes from within the parties

Good intentions

“The mother party and the elders of our communities have to give us a chance to work together with them.” The words come from Mbirih Mulamba, who is a 29-year old woman and member of the party United Democratic Front. Mbirih has experienced how it feels to seek political influence, but not being given much space within her party.

Most of the five parties of Malawi are younger than 25 years, but those party members who have influence are much older than that. The issue is not that the elder party members see no idea of working with Mbirih and young people like her; all five parties agrees that the challenge of involving young people meaningfully are one the key issues of intra-party democracy. But despite good intentions from the party leadership, very few steps towards actual influence of the youth have been taken. It might have to do with myths on youth involvement. One myth comes from South Africa and another comes from the past.

Mbirih Mulamba is interviewed to Malawi television on youth’s role in politics.

The fear from South Africa and from the past

If the party leaders of Malawi look some kilometers further south to South Africa, it becomes clear to Malawians, that independent youth wings can bring about challenges. The ruling party of South Africa, African National Congress (ANC), has been troubled with years of internal conflict since the youth league evolved to be actual competitors rather than supporters of the ANC. Balancing between loyalty and rebellion was hard to the youth of ANC, and that message echoed in the rest of the region of southern Africa.

Another story that still echoes in Malawi, is a story from past about young politicians as being troublemakers. Earlier days the youth of the parties participated in politics by harassing the opposition party and creating riots and havocs in the streets. But the Malawian youth of today are different: they have tons of visions for Malawi. They have views on issues from gender quotas to job creation. They write speeches and organize debate trainings. They do social media campaigns on their favorite policy issue. In their own words, they are capable. “As youth we are capable. We have the capacity and the mindset to participate in politics. We are responsible and have many ideas that can make a difference in our country”, says Mbirih.

After exchange activities between the Socialist People’s Party, the Liberal Party and the five Malawian parties, the advantages rather than the risks of having independent youth wings has started to become clearer to the party leadership. Grace Banda, who is a young member of the party Alliance For Democracy, has visited Denmark twice. To her it is key to involve young people early in their lives: “In Denmark I saw how students were involved in politics at a very early age in schools as well as in youth wings. It is important to involve the youth in the democracy in order for us to learn about democracy”, Grace states.

Together with Mbirih, Grace is trying to dispel the myth that the youth of Malawi are troublemakers who joined politics in order to compete against their mother parties.

Grace Banda is interviewed to Malawi television on youth’s role in politics.

The more influence, the more engagement

The youth of the political parties will not settle with just being invited to the table when it suits the mother party. They see it as crucial to be involved in a meaningful way. To them, that means participation from their own independent platform. Actual influence is the key ingredient that leads to greater engagement in politics, Grace and Mbirih notes.

The young people of Malawi have been doing their best to prove to their mother parties that they have the capacities to participate politics. In 2017, the youth of four out of five political parties of Malawi sat down and drafted what they call Youth wing constitutions. They have now put their request for an independent platform for youth on paper, and it is now up to the party leadership to discuss the drafted constitution. The youth are open for amendments from the leadership, but they hope that the process will end out with an approval from the party leaders. For Mbirih it is clear that it takes two to tango: “We as youth have to prove ourselves as capable to do politics, but at the same time the elder leaders have to give us space to participate.”

The Youth in Politics project is a multiparty project between Socialist Peoples Party (SF), The Liberal Party (Venstre), their youth wings and the five political parties of Malawi in the Centre for Multiparty Democracy.

KV17 is the Danish acronym for Muncipal Elections 2017. On Tuesday 21 November 2017, the Danes are invited to participate in the election of 98 muncipal and 5 regional councils. This is an exercise that takes place every four years on the third Tuesday of November, and it is an important dimension of the Danish democracy. This is a good opportunity for inspiration and learning for our partners around the world and therefore DIPD is hosting a seminar from 18 November to 24 November. On this page, we will post relevant information on the seminar.